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NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Trucking company operators around the nation expressed surprise and disgust Friday about revelations that the Pilot Flying J truck-stop chain may have deliberately cheated its customers on rebates they were supposed to have earned on their diesel-fuel purchases.

Accusations of fraud over the rebate program, suggesting that millions of dollars were withheld from the trucking companies, were outlined in an affidavit released by the FBI on Thursday.

Knoxville-based Pilot Flying J, the nation's largest truck-stop operator, is majority-owned and controlled by the family of Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, whose brother, Jimmy Haslam, is chief executive officer.

The affidavit sent shockwaves throughout the trucking industry, said Tommy Hodges, owner of Shelbyville, Tenn.-based Titan Transfer Inc., and a former chairman of the American Trucking Association.

"Until today, I considered Jimmy Haslam a friend," said Hodges, whose company operates 375 over-the-road trucks. "But when someone you count as a friend lets you down, it kind of puts a knot in your stomach. We're still buying fuel from them today, but we're looking at other options."

Hodges said his own company is among the victims of the alleged scam, in which trucking firms were paid less than promised in rebates they were supposed to be earning by sending their trucks to Pilot Flying J locations for refueling.

"We feel like they got us," he said. "We fit the profile of exactly what they were doing. We were in the rebate program, and we always had a tough time reconciling the checks we were getting with our records of fuel purchases.

"Sometimes when we were expecting $50,000, we would get only $35,000, and when we would call, we never got a straight answer about the discrepancy. When we would get a check, nothing would come with it explaining it."

Hodges said he "got so frustrated with the discrepancies that we finally got the president of Pilot involved."

"When we complained mightily, they took us off that program and just started giving us the discount right at the pump," he said,

Likewise for W.N. Morehouse Truck Line Inc. of Omaha, Neb., one of the firms named in the FBI affidavit as a victim of the scam.

"We caught them, and they finally put us on a discount right at the pump," said Brad Morehouse, the company's president. "It's all disgraceful. It was very difficult to track the rebates because they had different prices at different truck stops. We trusted them, and now, if they're guilty, I hope they all go to jail."

Some of the truckers say they're looking for other fuel sources, but that it's tough to cut Pilot Flying J out completely because it's such a big company with little competition in some areas.

"They are such a large provider that we don't have much of a choice," Titan's Hodges said.

Pilot Flying J has more than 650 locations and 23,000 employees; its annual sales total about $29.2 billion. Love's truck stops is in second place, with about 290 locations, 10,000 employees and $17 billion in sales.

If Pilot Flying J were to shut down, there would almost immediately be a severe impact on the nation's trucking industry, as the remaining operators would not be able to fill the gap anytime soon, said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service, or OPIS.

Kloza said that word of the FBI probe has been a surprise to the whole industry.

"The feeling is that Pilot Flying J would be one of the last companies in this industry that would be suspected of shenanigans like this," he said. "Among the suppliers, the company has a reputation as one of the most well-managed fuel buyers in the country."

"All the suppliers are in a state of shock right now to see these accusations," he said. "I imagine all of them are probably huddling with their legal departments to see if there are any implications for the future here, including how this might affect Pilot's ability to pay its suppliers. It's always been a very creditworthy company."

Morehouse said he believes that "consumers should be outraged" about the possibility that Pilot Flying J overcharged trucking firms.

"It runs up shipping prices," he said. "People buying produce at the grocery store are probably paying more because of our higher fuel prices."

Trucking operators were particularly offended by comments by some Pilot Flying J employees in the FBI affidavit suggesting that the company didn't cheat all of its customers, only the ones who were "too unsophisticated" to detect the fraud.

"It's quite troubling to read the affidavit and hear what some of the employees were saying, especially the language and arrogance," said Joe Herman, president of Danny Herman Trucking in Mountain City, Tenn., and chairman of the Tennessee Trucking Association.

"We don't do business based on sophistication, we do it based on trust," he said.

Pilot was founded in 1958 by James Haslam, father of Jimmy and Bill Haslam. Gov. Haslam has not been involved in company operations for more than a decade, but he remains a stockholder.